


I Will Follow You Into The Dark

by lunalikespace



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/F, and loosely a song fic, this is really depressing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:35:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22606369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunalikespace/pseuds/lunalikespace
Summary: "You know how I'm going to live forever, but you're going to be dead in sixty years?"
Relationships: Chell/GLaDOS
Comments: 3
Kudos: 92





	I Will Follow You Into The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> loosely inspired by I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Death Cab For Cutie

It was a cruel twist of fate.

GLaDOS was lying in bed one night; Chell curled up at her side. She had her arms wrapped around the woman and her face was pressed into the neck of GLaDOS' android body. Chell was snoring softly, and while that might've been enough to lure GLaDOS to sleep normally, these were different circumstances. The android looked over at Chell. She had aged as any normal human would over the years they had spent in the facility. After she came back, she was still quite youthful-the adrenal vapors tend to do that-but her face was deepened with lines when she smiled or when she focused on something too hard.

A breath caught in GLaDOS' throat. Chell wouldn't live forever. One day her aging body would give out from within her and she would die; cease to exist. And GLaDOS would be alone again, in this facility that felt far too big for one robot. This thought haunted her frequently. How every single day GLaDOS had to make her time count. It was strange, the feeling that every moment mattered. There wasn't one to be wasted, because everyday they were moving closer to the end.

GLaDOS would never admit it, because she was fearless as far as anyone could tell, but she feared mortality more than anything.

The thought that she was letting this precious scene-Chell snoozing peacefully on her chest-pass her by scared her, and she forced herself to hold her just a little tighter, scooch just a little closer, and drift away.

***

It wouldn't be hard to build her an android body. Chell was much older now. She was no longer able to do her dramatic flips in the air when soaring through portals. She didn't move the way she used to, and it was noticeable. And GLaDOS could have fixed that in the wink of an eye. She built herself an android body, she would do it again for Chell. Even make it look like her too.

But, she wouldn't.

It wasn't right. The part of her brain where Caroline lived reminded her of what that experience felt like. To have everything normal and right ripped away from you. To have your life extended eternally. GLaDOS could remember her own screams from her former self.

_"Mr. Johnson, I don't want this!"_

She would _not_ become _him_. She would _not_ force someone she loved to do something they hated. As much as it will hurt to see Chell die, she couldn't justify doing that to her.

***

Many years had passed. Many wonderful, wonderful years. But then came the moment that GLaDOS dreaded the most.

Chell was dying.

GLaDOS had done all she could. Given her all the medicine she could take; given her all the resources Aperture had. It was just simply her time. Chell was satisfied with her life. She lied in the hospital-like bed GLaDOS had put together for me, holding her hand and smiling. She had completed everything she wanted; she left no goal unachieved. GLaDOS leaned down to kiss Chell. Chell smiled warmly at her, lines creasing her face. And then her eyes fluttered close, and she silently passed away.

GLaDOS wailed.

She cried and cried until she couldn't anymore. She moved the facility with her mind, putting Chell into a casket and closing it. Except, there was another casket beside her, although that one was empty. But GLaDOS already had a plan for it.

Maybe Chell wouldn't live forever. But she herself didn't have to either.

GLaDOS laid down beside her, put her arms at her side. She could recall something about a party escort submission position, but she ignored it. She scanned deep within her files and found a program that she had never had any intention of running.

_GLaDOS deactivation process_

She gulped. She wasn't afraid, merely mourning. Mourning the facility, that would soon be overgrown and returned to dust; a release frozen in time for eternity. Mourning herself, and all the science she wouldn't be able to complete. But mostly Chell. She clicked the program.

_Do you wish to continue? Proceeding will result in permanent Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System shutdown. This process is irreversible._

She didn't think twice when she pressed _yes_.


End file.
